Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount: Give, The Right Way

Matthew 6:1-4, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.  Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

So, here, Jesus is evidently correcting something that’s common.  I think we can probably picture this, a wealthy person giving a sizeable donation to a group or individual and making a big deal out of it.  Jesus mentions having a trumpet blown to signal to others that you are… just such a good person, doing such a good thing.

“Don’t do that,” Jesus says.  That’s what the hypocrites do. 

One of the greatest pastimes ever in Indonesia was taking photos and selfies.  Sometimes it seemed like the whole reason people went on vacations was just to take selfies of themselves.  And it seemed like, if there was ever a meeting whether for business or anything else, it was just so they could get that group photo with matching t-shirts.  But one of the more disturbing trends we noticed, and this was among Christians as well as Muslims, whenever they would give charity and most often this would take the form of what they called “sembako,” which was a simple package of staple food items, they would ask whoever was receiving the charity to hold the items while they posed with them for a photo.  Then this photo would immediately be posted to social media.  The motive behind the act couldn’t have been more clear.  “Ok, you’re not really doing this for the poor.  You’re doing this for you.” 

That’s called hypocrisy.  You’re doing “charity,” but it’s not charity.  You’re taking what’s supposed to be an act of love and really just turning it into an act of self-service. 

But, hey, this isn’t culture specific.  In our social media driven world, even if we Americans aren’t doing this so obviously, we find subtle ways to “toot our horns,” don’t we?  Think of the tidal wave of short term mission trip photos that pour across your Facebook or Instagram page over the Summer.  “Look at me, I’m holding orphans in Ghana.”  Or think about just the simpler desire for recognition when somebody wants a little plaque with their name on it somewhere in the church because they gave a donation for this or that.  We crave this praise and recognition from people so much. 

But Jesus says, “don’t do it that way.”  Why?  Well, Jesus isn’t saying that we shouldn’t find our own good in the act of giving to others.  Did you notice that in the passage?  He isn’t saying, “You should just take yourself out of the picture completely and not think about your own good at all.”  He appeals to your desire for reward, for some good to return to you from your giving to others.  But he appeals to this based on faith, not based on what you can get in this life. 

He says, “don’t toot your own horn,” because any reward you’ll get in this life for a charitable work will be a pittance compared to eternity.”  The truth Jesus points to here is there’s a better world coming and the works you do before God in this life will store up for you treasures in the life to come.  But if you only want gain for this life only, that’s all you’ll get.  And that’ll pass away in the end.  They reward dies with you. 

Rather, when you give, do it in secret.  When you show love in this way, do it without others knowing about it.  Jesus had a really creative way to explain this, by saying, “don’t let your right hand know what your left hand is doing.”  It’s like, pretend that you don’t even know what’s going on.  I think we all know what Jesus is talking about here, it’s this disinterested way of giving that proves that you’re treasure isn’t here on earth.  You have a better home and you’re looking forward to it. 

Let me give you an example of how this works.  When Sharon and I were at Seminary school, we were poor.  I mean, splurging on tortilla chips poor.  I mean weekly trips to the school food pantry poor.  There were days that we didn’t know where our next meal was coming from, literally.  Well, during those days, we were doing some ministry in a nearby town on weekends, but that meant we had to have gas to get there.  There was one week in particular that we didn’t have gas money.  We didn’t think we’d be able to do ministry that weekend.  Well, we just prayed about it and left it up to the Lord.  We said, “If you want us to do this Lord, we believe you’ll provide the gas money.”  Well, one night after small group which met in our tiny apartment, one of our small group members had left a $20 bill on our kitchen counter.  That was enough to get us where we were going that weekend.  We didn’t know who had put it there.  They didn’t tell us, nor did they give us even a hint of who it was.  But they knew that God knew.  God saw what they did.  That’s such a good example of giving the right way.  -Not handing out $100s for your YouTube channel!  But giving in a way that’s between you and God. 

That’s how citizens of the Kingdom give. 

Now, let me point to an example in Scripture of what happened in the Church when a couple gave with the wrong motives.  I’ll read it to you, it comes from Acts 5:1-11.  Listen to what happened.  Read.

That’s pretty scary, right?  I mean we don’t see this happening now, even though we know similar things are taking place all the time.  Well, this was a special occasion when the church was just emerging and I believe that God here was making a point, making an example out of this couple.  The point is this, there’s no place for self-serving charity in the church, especially when you’re doing it in a dishonest way the way that Ananias and Sapphira were. 

So, let’s take this as a sobering reminder and also just an encouragement.  God sees.  He sees when we’re doing our giving with the wrong motives.  But, he also sees, and we can be uplifted by this, when we do our good works for him to see, him alone.  We won’t go without a reward for that.